Pick 'O' The Year 2023

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Week from Monday 4th December 2023 - It's been a fairly simple task to choose my "PICK 'O' THE YEAR" albums for this year! Not for me the quandary of having to sift through piles of new releases to consider and select my favourite three(s). Because these were my ONLY purchases for the last twelvemonth (give or take the odd "Name Your Price" freebie from Bandcamp and some other ZAPPA boxes reserved for Chrimbo)...

NEW RELEASES
1) SOFT MACHINE : "Other Doors"
2) ANCHOR & BURDEN : "Kosmonautik Plgrimage"
3) P.A.K.T. : "Live In NYC"

REISSUES, ARCHIVE & BACK-CATALOGUE
1) FRANK ZAPPA : "Funky Nothingness"
2) STICK MEN : "Umeda: Live In Osaka 2022"
3) P.A.K.T. : "Live In Piedmont" (a.o.)

(All releases, whether 'new' or 'reissue', carry a '2023' publishing date to qualify for consideration.)

Over the last few years, I've fallen into the prudent habit of NOT buying a new release without hearing (at least SOME of) it first. Especially rock and pop music. How many times have I bought a reccerd by a once 'favourite' artist, only to find it decidedly sub-par and 'NOT ALL THAT'? So once bitten, twice shy... Now increasingly, I preview a new album online and ask myself, "Mmm it's okay, but do I like it enough to want to OWN it?"

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